Pink Floyd

Just holding an LP by Pink Floyd immediately takes me to a very special place. From my first experience with them, they have been the exemplars of what mysterious, art-rock looks like. In 1970 our local PBS station (now known as Rocky Mountain PBS) aired “An Hour with Pink Floyd,” which was recorded at KQED studios in San Francisco on April 30, 1970. Because it was on PBS it inherently had our parents blessing. Little did they know! The show featured the band playing six songs ripped from the beating heart of their super-psychedelic post-Barrett period. My 12-year old mind was blown. Atom Heart Mother confused, Grantchester Meadows and Green Is the Colour soothed and Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun and Careful with That Axe Eugene terrified me. Much of the music I hold dearest started out scaring me. It’s true, my first reaction to Bitches Brew, The Shape of Jazz to Come, Live Dead and Electric Ladyland was fear. These records pushed the limit of traditional song and imagery into more adult realms. This wasn’t verse, chorus, verse. This was staring at yourself in the mirror until you had to look away. Yeah-that’s for me! After seeing An Hour with Pink Floyd I went with my brother to Underground Records at 724 S. Pearl St. and purchased Ummagumma. 18 years later, I would buy Underground Records at a tax auction and turn it into Twist and Shout. I was again, thrilled and scared by this album. The cover was awesome, especially the back cover where two members of the band’s road crew stood in the middle of a country road surrounded by all the band’s gear artfully displayed in a giant V. I was so sold on this band!

My next major experience with the band came when the movie Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii was shown at midnight at The Vogue Theatre on South Pearl Street. Once again, I was both excited and terrified by the futuristic music the band was creating. Once again, I went to Underground Records and headed straight for the Pink Floyd section. This time, I was greeted by a strange album with minimal information. It just said Pink Floyd Fillmore West. My brother told me it was a bootleg and encouraged me to get it. I saved my allowance over the next few months, and when I finally had 15 bucks saved up, we went back and I got it. We breathlessly listened to it.  The album gave no clue what songs the band played at the concert, but we were excited when the program was very similar the PBS special. On the back of the album, you can see the home-made setlist I typed up on my father’s Royal typewriter. (the same one on which he wrote 10 novels). I was so psyched. This was going to be my band.

I continued to follow Pink Floyd, buying every one of their new albums the day it came out, and eventually finding all their older ones. I also got heavily into Syd Barrett and his two incredible solo albums. His descent into madness stuck with me throughout my young life and remains a poignant touchstone to the reality that art and madness often walk a parallel path. When Wish You Were Here came out I was 18 and the messages of alienation and societal oppression could not have been more timely for me. Again, the artwork was so memorable. Instead of covering the album in clear plastic shrink-wrap, this album had a custom blue shrink, so you had to buy the album to see all the artwork.

Animals promotional item. Last week I mentioned Corey over at Furthur Frames.
This piece might represent the apex of his work for me. It’s hard to see in the picture but the display is
3 dimensional and the pig in the bottom half is hanging in there and can swing freely.

And, ultimately, this is what is so great about Pink Floyd. Every move they made was intelligent, beautiful, calculated. They are the ultimate art-rock band.

Paul Epstein

I’d Love To Turn You On At The Movies #190 - Pink Floyd - Live At Pompeii

     When first released in America in 1973, Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii was a moderate success, playing in art theatres, on campuses and at midnight movie showings. That was where I first saw it - at the Vogue Theatre on old South Pearl Street (now condos) at a midnight showing. Beginning with a heartbeat pulse in blackness, the scene finally opens with a camera shot above the ancient ruins of the amphitheater at Pompeii. The title wasn’t hyperbole or poetic nonsense -this was actually psychedelic, art-rock rock band Pink Floyd playing in the audience-free remains of a 6^th Century Italian ruin – an absolutely mind-blowing conceit from the word go. The ruins themselves make for the most cosmic of backdrops, yet director Adrian Maben goes further, filming Pompeii’s famous active volcano spewing lava and boiling mud, and having the members of Pink Floyd stroll through this alien landscape. Maben also includes shots of the world-class statues, tiles and frescos (some highly erotic) found in the ruins of Pompeii. These elements, along with some additional footage of the band playing in a French studio are masterfully woven together to encapsulate everything that Pink Floyd was at this time; inventive, powerful, ambitious, and uniquely standing on the precipice of world superstardom. Yes, remember, this was before their groundbreaking Dark Side Of The Moon album. In fact, in some ways, the overwhelming success of that album blunted some of the movie’s impact on public consciousness. The director’s cut of the movie includes extended scenes of the band working on Dark Side in the studio, which, while fascinating, change the vibe of the film.

For me, it is the original hour-long version of the film that I go back to over and over. It is an important milestone in my personal understanding of why, ultimately, rock music matters. To see one of my favorite bands, and one that has stood the test of time, in this context, shoulder to shoulder with the great artifacts of Western art and culture was both humbling and thrilling. Musically, Pink Floyd play some of their most adventurous music with authority and improvisational abandon. Numbers like “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun” and “Careful With That Axe Eugene” are the perfect combination of musical convention and cutting-edge, avant experimentation to match the timeless setting. The scene during the song “A Saucerful Of Secrets” where Roger Waters stands in front of and strikes giant gong as the sun sets behind him in the ruins of an ancient stadium while guitarist Dave Gilmour sits barefoot and shirtless in the ancient dirt of Pompeii drawing the most extraordinary sounds out of his instrument are about as memorable and historically impactful as any scene in any music movie.

The musical heart of Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii are the three numbers drawn from their 1971 masterpiece Meddle. The film is bookended with their side long epic “Echoes” which pretty much defines forward-thinking ambition in modern music at this point in history. Again, the historical surroundings meld perfectly with Floyd’s intense, throbbing composition. “One Of These Days” finds the production team down to one working camera, thus the shots revolve around drummer Nick Mason, providing a dizzying swirl of movement that beautifully illustrates the excitement of the song.

I definitely recommend watching the entire director’s cut of this film, because it offers such a rare glimpse into the studio magic (and sometimes tedium) that goes into making a classic album, but, ultimately, it is the actual footage of Pink Floyd playing in the ruins of Pompeii that provides the life-altering experience in this movie. I’ve never gotten over it. To this day, every time I hear that heartbeat opening I am transported back to the body of a 16 year-old sitting in a darkened theatre about to be shown that popular music could be about something deeper than “ooh baby I love you.”

-         Paul Epstein

I'd Love To Turn You On #44 - Pink Floyd - Meddle

The recent flurry of Pink Floyd reissues has primarily focused on their most famous albums.  Deluxe editions of Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here have already been released with The Wall due in February.  These are all great albums and the bonus material is welcome.  However, the story of Pink Floyd goes well beyond this Big Three.  All of their other studio albums have been remastered and re-released, both in a box set and individually.  My favorite Floyd album is the one that celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, 1971's Meddle.  It's often referred to as a test run for Dark Side, but Meddle is truly a masterpiece of its own, each of its six tracks showing a different side of the band and demonstrating what makes Pink Floyd great.

Album opener "One of These Days" begins ominously with a pounding Roger Waters bass line and distorted effects.  The drama increases with Nick Mason's thundering drums announcing the diabolical voice that screams "One of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces!"  The song then explodes into full on rock & roll led by some excellent slide guitar from David Gilmour.  The album's most intense song leads into its most relaxed, the pastoral "A Pillow of Winds."  Gilmour's acoustic playing and airy vocals are augmented by psychedelic effects to produce a hazy, laid back vibe.  "Fearless" is the great lost Pink Floyd classic, a song that should be just as famous as "Money" or "Comfortably Numb" but is held in similarly high regard by hardcore Floyd fans.  Anchored by an infectious acoustic guitar riff and some of the band's best lyrics, "Fearless" offers one of the best arguments for digging deep into the Floyd catalog.

Next comes "San Tropez," perhaps the most whimsical post-Syd Barrett Pink Floyd song.  Ironically enough, this is the only song on the album where Roger Waters receives sole writing credit.  It's a million miles away from the dark and angry material Waters would be writing by the end of the decade, but it's still a fun little number that shows a rarely seen lighter side of Floyd.  The acoustic blues "Seamus" is also a nice change of pace.  With so much forward-looking material, this tune is a nice reminder of the blues roots that influenced so many British musicians in the early to mid-60s, Floyd members included.

Finally, we reach "Echoes," the 23 minutes closing number that originally comprised all of side 2 on the vinyl release.  Floyd had previously attempted extended composition on 1970's Atom Heart Mother, but even there the two long pieces were divided into individual sections.  "Echoes" is definitively one piece organically growing and changing.  It starts with a single mechanical blip and slowly grows to a full dramatic theme.  After the two initial verses the band locks into a groove and gives a solid example of the instrumental prowess of all four members.  An interlude of pre-recorded whale calls anticipates the ambient music Brian Eno would soon pioneer.  This again organically develops back into the song's main theme and final verse.  "Echoes" may truly be Pink Floyd's finest moment.  It became a live staple throughout the 70s and the band thought so highly of it they named their 2001 2-CD career retrospective after it.  If you only know Floyd through their big albums and radio hits, Meddle is the best point of entry for discovering the rest of the catalog.  If you're already familiar, the new reissue is a great excuse to revisit a classic.

- Adam Reshotko